Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in Children

If your child shows signs of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as chronic diarrhea, cramping or bloody stool, you want prompt attention from digestive health specialists who understand this condition and its particular effects on children.

Care for Children’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Close to Home

Get comprehensive care for children’s inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) when you choose the board-certified pediatric gastroenterologists at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health in Oklahoma City. You’ll work with experienced IBD specialists at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, one of the original sites in the ImproveCareNow network, an innovative, multicenter, nationwide collaboration of experts designed to continually improve quality of care for children who live with IBD.

You and your child benefit from the OU Health team-based approach to pediatric digestive health that draws on experts from many medical specialties to coordinate all aspects of care. As part of your child’s team, you’re also involved in developing a treatment plan to address your child’s specific situation and help manage this lifelong autoimmune condition.

Symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Inflammatory bowel disease includes two digestive health conditions: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. To help determine whether your child has one of these distinct issues, visit with your primary care physician or a pediatrician at OU Health if your child experiences symptoms such as:

• Abdominal cramping and pain
• Chronic diarrhea that may contain blood
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Malnutrition
• Urgent need to move bowels
• Weight loss

Comprehensive Pediatric IBD Treatment

At Oklahoma Children's Hospital OU Health, the diagnostic process to determine your child’s IBD condition uses a combination of blood work, endoscopy (including colonoscopy), CT scans or MRI scans.

Once you receive a diagnosis, you’ll work with your child’s gastrointestinal care team to create an individualized treatment plan that usually begins with one or more medications.

If surgery becomes part of your child’s care plan, you’ll collaborate with highly skilled and specially trained pediatric surgeons at OU Health who hold extensive experience in performing minimally invasive surgery procedures that involve only tiny incisions to help speed healing.

Your Pediatric IBD Care Team

Oklahoma Children's Hospital’s pediatric specialists on your child’s IBD care team would include board-certified pediatric gastroenterologists, pediatric gastroenterology dietitians, specially trained nurses, psychologists and study coordinator. Other specialists you may encounter on your comprehensive team can include, pediatric liver specialists (hepatologists), pediatric surgeons, dermatologist, rheumatologists, endocrinologists, hematologists, infectious disease specialists, and neurologists.